Consistency paying off for da Costa early on as he looks to right Season 10 wrongs

The 2023-24 Formula E season was a tale of two halves for Antonio Felix da Costa. In the first half of the season he was inconsistent and nowhere near the podium, leading to speculation he could be dropped from the TAG Heuer Porsche line-up. But in the second a run of four wins in five races – giving him the highest victory tally of anyone over the season – propelled him into championship contention.

Ultimately he came up short in the title race, but it gave him enough of a picture of what needed to be done this time around. And so far it’s paying off, with the Portuguese driver leading the championship after two second places from two starts so far.

“I told myself after last year that consistency is key to try and have a crack at this championship,” he said. “We're trying to do just that. Of course. I wanted to win today, but we have to be happy with those 18 points.”

Da Costa finished behind Oliver Rowland in Mexico City after the Nissan driver capitalized on what he had left of Attack Mode following a safety car restart to vault to the front. Rowland says that safety car intervention aided his energy saving, ultimately allowing him to consolidate the win, and it’s a point da Costa concurs with, feeling that Porsche would have been able to back up its front row lockout in qualifying with a one-two in the race had that not happened.

Oliver was very decisive. I defended hard, and I think there wasn't much space left, and it's always good to race him when it's hard and fair like that,” he said. “I thought we had the one-two today for the team, and then that safety car … I don't know, maybe Oliver would have had enough to come back to the front. It ruined our party a little bit, and our plan, (of) what we were doing up to that point.”

Rowland and Sao Paulo winner Mitch Evans – who ultimately retired, causing a second safety car in quick succession – both had Attack Mode left at the point the safety car got involved, and da Costa was wary of both, but was confident both he and teammate Pascal Wehrlein had enough to put up a fight.

“We were keeping an eye on the guys that had attack mode left, so it was Oliver and Mitch, and we were just trying to manage that and trying to build that gap, because we knew he would be coming at some point, and then we would have to see what will happen with energy,” he said. “At the time, I think both myself and Pascal were good on energy, so it would have been a nice fight either way, with Oliver at the end, had that safety car not come out.”